A Sunday Drive On A Saturday

We take our Sunday drives on Saturday since Sunday is the first day of the work week in a Muslim country.  Many people have asked to see pictures of the day to day life in Saudi Arabia, so I thought I would take pictures on the things we see on our drive to and around Jeddah.  Jeddah is about 50 minutes south of where we live and is the 2nd largest city in Saudi Arabia.  (Here are some facts about Jeddah if you are interested in learning more about this historical city).

We prefer to drive on Saturday mornings because the traffic is light and it takes 1/2 the time to navigate the city.  Jeddah was not designed well for the amount of traffic that occurs each evening.  It is not the worst country for driving but it is tense at all times.  Bryan says he has to drive it like he stole it in order to navigate us safely through the city.  It just isn't a great time for our marriage so we try to avoid evening driving if at all possible. 

Here are some sights of our drive today.  The sky was unusually cloudy and the weather was quite cool (Probably high 70's to low 80's).  We have been expecting rain this weekend but it hasn't happened yet.

This is the typical landscape outside of our compound.  There is not a lot of development for the first 45 minutes when driving south. 

Construction Zone

Greenery! 

There are lots of goats in Saudi and they are usually transported in back of these Toyota trucks.  These Toyota trucks are very popular.

This is a monument for the King.  You can find his picture in many places around the city. 

I don't think we will be going but you can find many food chains that are found in the States.

Driving nicely in the city.  Everyone is in their lane and there are no motorcycles riding a wheely down the middle of the street.  It was a nice morning for driving.

The Cheesecake Factory is not my first choice at home but it is my first choice in Jeddah.  Jeddah actually has many nice restaurants and the service in these restaurants is amazing.  We often feel like royalty by how the wait staff treats us.  We went here today for brunch. Yum! 

When it is dark this building is a full t.v.  It shows advertisements on the entire side of the building.  It is very distracting for drivers.

Jeddah is known for its sculptures.  I would like to take a morning and photograph all the sculptures.

It is nice to grocery shop at a new place every once in awhile.  When in Jeddah we enjoy going to Manuel, and Italian grocery store.

We have to travel upstairs to get to the grocery store.

Our recent discovery here has been Life Cereal.  We usually only get it on our summer holiday but now we have found the 1 store that carries it.  We spent a lot of money buying Life Cereal today.

This is one of my favorite sculptures.  I wish I knew the story behind it.

This is a mall and a landmark that Bryan uses to find many of the stores that we often have on our list for shopping.

This is our favorite framing shop.  It is so cheap!  We are framing everything!  We are trying to buy something from each country we visit and also the kids are doing some excellent art in school.  Our walls are decorated with a collection from all over the place.

Of course you can always find the arches!  However, this is a rare stop for the Johnsons.  We are not going to travel an hour to eat at McDonalds.

When traveling in Saudi you have to be aware of the prayer times.  Everything closes during prayer, so you have to plan things just right.  We often plan on being in this store that is similar to a Home Depot (on a small scale).  They have the most comfortable bean bags, so we sit for about 30 minutes and just relax.  All of Jeddah is closed during this time.  Sometimes we plan to be in a restaurant or driving to a new location during prayer.  It is important to have a prayer app on your phone because it happens 5 times a day.  Often stores are closed after the lunch time prayer and will not open until 4:00.  You have to have a plan when you travel in Saudi. 

This is the Royal Terminal for the Royal family.  They enter the airport through this gate.  I am wondering if the Royal family realizes that the rest of us get to experience the World's Worst Airport.

This stadium has opened since we have lived here.  It has hosted many soccer matches and even the WWF. However, this place does not allow women inside.  Hopefully someday this rule will change.  

Mosques are everywhere.

We are approaching the security on the freeway.  Usually you just have to pass slowly through the gate.  We do see cars being pulled over but we have always been lucky.

Camels on the side of the freeway.

Camels and garbage.  Plastics are a real problem in Saudi and blow all around the desert.  Some say the National flower is the plastic bag. So sad.

This Mosque is right outside of our compound in a fishing village called Thuwal.

Some sights in Thuwal.

Kaust has given a lot of money to the outside community since the compound was built right on top of this land.  The King chose this site to build Kaust because it is believed the first school of wisdom was build at this location.  This fishing village has been able to build some new buildings.  This is the new fire department.

Our compound is surrounded by this wall.  It is supposed to withstand a tank.  Hmmmm.  I am not sure if that is true but I like to think that we are really safe.  This wall surrounds our entire community, which has about 8,000 residents.  We are a small city inside that includes grocery shopping, restaurants, pools, beaches, schools, university, movie theater, bowling alley, recreation centers, vet, and our home. (I am sure I could keep adding to this list).  We really don't ever have to leave but we seem to go a little crazy when we stay too many weeks in a row inside the compound.

I know the wall seems a little much but that is how expats live in the Middle East.  We all live in compounds.  I have never felt unsafe outside of our compound but it is nice to know that we do have this protection if ever needed.  When we were making a choice of whether to accept our job offer we skyped a family that lives here.  When they said it was the safest place they could ever imagine raising their kids, we knew that moving here was the right decision. 

I hope you enjoyed a little glimpse into our Sunday drive.  The boys sat in the back of our car and watched Gulliver's Travels as we cruised down the highway.  

Gorilla Girls Gone Wild In The Pearl Of Africa

Last week I traveled with 10 other ladies to Uganda, The Pearl of Africa.  It was a trip of a lifetime and so many memories were made with this wonderful group of ladies. Thank you Kristen for planning such a special birthday celebration! I would also like to thank Churchill Safaris for taking care of us ladies.  Our guides were amazing and they were so patient handling a group of ladies that had to constantly pee at different times!

Uganda is the called the Pearl of Africa because it has mountains, plains, Savannah, hills, rivers, lakes, diverse animal populations, friendly people, and rich in minerals.  This area of the world is believed to be the start of mankind.  With all of these riches this country struggles because of its long history of being unstable.  The average family makes a yearly salary of $560.  That is less than 2 dollars a day!  What is it like to be in such a poor country?  It brings you back to reality on what is really important in life.  What do we need in life?  What is actually really important for survival?  As we traveled I noticed that the people of Uganda are very happy and friendly. 

It was the children that melted our hearts.  I am surprised that we didn't return home with a baby on each of our hips.  On average 320 children die a day from contaminated water or malaria.  Families have about 6-8 children knowing that many will die before they are 5.  Education is supposed to be free but actually families are charged $30 a year.  When you only make $560 a year it makes it impossible to send your child to school.  These babies were so sweet!  

Our main mission was to see the gorillas.  Never in my life did I think I would stand a few feet away from a family of gorillas.  We had to travel 12 hours from Kampala to the mountains of Bwindi.  There are 3 different species of gorillas and we were trekking to see the mountain gorilla.  (We were right in the area of where Gorillas In The Mist was filmed.)  The mountain gorilla is critically endangered but has been making a slow comeback in the last decade.  When we arrived to the ranger station we were placed in smaller groups and each group was trekking to a different group of gorillas.  They only allow 24 people a day into the park and you are only allowed 1 hour to be with the gorillas.  The gorillas have been habituated, which means they are used to people, and this has become a good thing because it protects the gorillas from poachers.  Gorilla poaching isn't that popular but hunting of other animals has led to the death of gorillas.  Uganda is starting to realize that protecting this animal is leading to an increase in tourism.  

We hiked with guides but also had an AK47 in front and behind our line.  They said it was for forest elephants.  I am thinking it was if we came across poachers.  Whatever it was I felt safe with this group. 

After watching this cute baby I turned around and realized the silverback gorilla was behind me.  He is the leader of the group and keeps all of his females close.  He decided to get up at the same time I decided to step in his direction.  It is very uncommon to be charged by a gorilla, but for some reason I was in the right place at the right time to experience the full charge of a silverback.  The rule is to take a few steps backwards, however survival instincts took over and I turned and sprinted to the nearest tree.  Before the charge the gorilla opened his mouth and this huge set of teeth flared at me.  Why does an herbivore need such a large set of teeth?  I think I felt the silverbacks breath and had a good view right now his throat! 

Here I am hiding and Leona just happened to snap a picture.  My body was shaking and I think I had to check my pants!  As I was pressed against the tree a wasp fell on my shoulder.  So, I had about 1 minute of chaos.  I did some yoga breathing and pulled myself together and enjoyed the 50 minutes that were left with the mountain gorilla.

Here is a little video of a future silverback.  He was practicing how to beat his hands against his chest.  I could watch this little guy all day!

After we found our family of gorillas we had to hike out of the forest. Since our hike was shorter than the other group we had time to hike into the mountains to see a tribe called the pygmy people.  This tribe used to live in the forest but once it became a national park they were removed and now live on the hillside next to the village.  The pygmy people are being forced to change their ways and leave their traditional customs.  It is heartbreaking to think that this tribe will be lost forever.  We had the chance to listen to their stories, practice their traditions, dance, and then I was given the opportunity to tell a story.  I sat on the storytelling rock and told them a story about when I was a university student and studied their tribe in text books.  I did not realize how much my story would mean to them and they began to cry.  I think the thought of being studied by Americans was such a massive thought and they had know idea that books were written about them.  As I told my story it was translated by a local student studying this tribe.  It an amazing experience!

They built these tree houses high in the trees and would leave their children there when they went hunting.  They feel their children are safe high in the trees.

This lady had moves!

I never did make the arrow stick into this wooden boar!

This picture is memorable!  When we lined up a huge slap sound echoed through the forest.  The little pygmy boy on the end slapped my butt so hard and then held on with a long squeeze!  I was goosed by a pygmy!  I am sure he left a hand print on my right cheek! 

I am telling my story. 

Not only did we get spend time with the gorillas but our adventure continued for a few more days.  Uganda has so much to offer!  We cruised the Nile looking for hippos and crocodiles and then we were on a sunset savannah safari!  We also hiked in a forest in the search of chimpanzees and then found ourselves in a field of rhinos!  It was an adventure of a lifetime (However, I will have to do it again when the boys are big enough.)! 

In order to see more sights we had to fly out of Bwindi on a plane that seats 11 people! We took off and landed on a gravel runway in the middle of nowhere.  

After the plane we were on a Nile Cruise.

Next, sunset safari.  We were really tired at the end of this day.

Sausage Trees!

The next morning: 

The chimpanzees were falling out of the trees all around us!  It is a little creepy seeing an animal so similar to us! Chimpanzees are not found on trails, nor were the gorillas.  We had to do a lot of plowing through the lush rain forest to see these animals!  They were also difficult to photograph because they were always on the move.  I learned that chimpanzees have been removed from the critically endangered list because their population is starting to slowly increase.  

Next Stop: Rhino Sanctuary

There are only 20 rhinos left in Uganda.  18 of them are at the reserve we visited and then 2 are at a zoo in the city.  These rhinos are also used to humans but we were told to run in a zig zag pattern to the nearest tree if we were charged.  Well, I survived a gorilla charge and knew I could run a fast zig zag so I went out there and found the rhinos! 

Here are a few more of my favorite photos.  I have over 700 to choose from and narrowed it down for this post. 

It is overwhelming to be blessed with such a wonderful life knowing that so many are not given these opportunities.  Bryan and I have worked hard for this lifestyle and it just feels like a dream.  I can't imagine life for us without an adventure.  I enjoyed myself with the ladies but deep down knew this adventure would have also been amazing for the boys.  I love that our boys love to travel and learn about the world around them.  So many amazing things to do and see!